DOES CONTEXTUAL EXEGESIS REQUIRE AN
AFFIRMING BIBLE?
LESSONS FROM ‘APARTHEID’ AND ‘AFRICA’ AS
NARCISSISTIC HERMENEUTICAL KEYS

Christo Lombaard

Abstract

It has become almost impossible to critique the concept of contextual exegesis of the
Bible in Africa. Moreover, “relevance” in biblical interpretation is implicitly understood
as the texts of the Bible affirming the current socio-political project(s) of a
group with a current claim to power. Clearly, such hermeneutics are ideologically
determined efforts at seeking legitimacy for these socio-political projects. Criticism
of or alternatives to such efforts in biblical interpretation are regarded with severe
suspicion. Building forth on previous studies, this paper analyses the ways in which,
first, “apartheid” and now, “Africa”, have functioned as such narcissistic hermeneutical
keys. The critical religious and socio-political functions of the biblical texts
are thus lost in this “political carnival” (J Ellul).

Keywords

Apartheid and the Bible; Africa and the Bible; Contextual Hermeneutics;
Bible and Politics

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